The Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine has started building a new headquarters in Portland that will allow the organization to greatly expand programs and services throughout the region.

The alliance also has launched a capital campaign to raise the final $1.2 million of $9.5 million needed to build the new Alfred Osher JCA Campus at 1342 Congress St. and to make improvements to the alliance’s day camp on Sebago Lake, according to a news release.

“An undertaking such as this happens once in a lifetime,” Steve Brinn, capital campaign co-chairman, said Friday. “Today, we break ground on an impressive structure that will house and nurture our community for generations to come.”

The new campus will include the Levine Jewish Community Center, which provides various social, recreational, educational and cultural enrichment programs for people of all ages throughout the community. The center will be named for the late Morris and Bertha Levine, whose son, the late Sidney Levine, bequeathed the lead gift for the new facility.

The 19,000-square-foot building also will house the local chapter of the Jewish Federations of North America, which supports agencies and programs throughout southern Maine and in Israel, and Jewish Family Services, which provides social services, utilities assistance, food and other help to neighbors in need.

The 2-acre campus, on the site of the former St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, will allow the 78-year-old alliance to significantly expand programs and services that have been headquartered in a 6,000-square-foot building at 57 Ashmont St. since 1982.

The campus will include an education wing for the alliance’s preschool and other learning programs, a community hall, a library, an administrative wing, an expanded food and diaper pantry and larger kosher kitchens, said Dan Pearl, building committee co-chairman.

Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: KelleyBouchard

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